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Are Estate Agents needed

I’ve been weighing up over the last year as to whether estate agents really are needed.

With Tepilo providing an estate agent free way of selling along with zero costs it has to be a consideration.
So i decided to invite some estate agents round to value my property at the weekend.
One estate agent from a national company and tow independent estate agents.

The purpose was to decide an answer to the questions:

  • Are Estate agents needed?
  • What value do Estate agents have?
Are Estate Agents needed?

Are Estate Agents needed?

Before hand i had used the excellent Zoopla app that we reviewed last week on Yourrightmove.co.uk but disappointingly the valuation of my property seemed exceedingly low. The reason being is the Zoopla application could only base its valuation on the fact that i bought the property 4 years ago for £250k. What it the Zoopla app doesn’t realise is this was a bargain price and the property was actually worth in the region of £265k. As you are aware, few people will offer £265k when the bulk of that figure will require a 3% stamp duty. Whereas £250k brings the stamp duty down to a sensible 1%.

In the Estate Agents Favour

The estate agents could easily see this as their valuation is based on what they see with there own eyes, in the same way a buyer will make an offer and purchase a property based on what they see. So Zoopla estimated a value of around £250k whereas all three estate agents estimated between £280k to £289k a hefty 50k difference. Even paying 3 or 4 k for an estate agent gives me good reason to justify that.

So as much as I’m not a massive fan of estate agents, and as keen as i am for something like Tepilo or another on-line estate agent to succeed, I suddenly realised there is a real value in another set of eyes viewing my property based on what is seen. Additionally they could take into account my rewiring , my double glazing of 4 bay windows, my reinforcing of the roof and the new decking area, new guttering and new fireplace with a log burner, additions that Zoopla could never know.

At the moment the question stands : Are Estate Agents needed? – Yes

posted by Zane in Estate Agents,For Sale,Guide,Home,Property,Rightmove,Tepilo,Zoopla and have Comments (2)

2 Responses to “Are Estate Agents needed”

  1. […] 3. Are Estate Agents needed […]

  2. I fully understand that traditional estate agents are able to “accurately” value properties in their area as they are essentially experts in that particular niche. Where online estate agents come into their own though is the sheer fee saving that they offer. Most online estate agents offer pretty much the same service as your local agent but for a fraction of the fee.

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